Broadcom Corp. cofounder Henry Samueli has resumed an executive post at the Irvine-based chipmaker, a few weeks after a judge dismissed a federal criminal charge and civil case against him.
Last month, Broadcom directors elected Samueli as senior vice president and chief technical officer, according to Broadcom’s Web site.
He’s “responsible for driving the vision of Broadcom’s research and development activities as well as helping coordinate corporatewide engineering development strategies,” according to the site.
Samueli served as chairman and chief technical officer until 2008 when he stepped down amid a federal probe into stock options backdating at Broadcom.
The probe resulted in a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against Samueli and others and a plea deal by Samueli with prosecutors who charged him with one count of lying to investigators.
In December, U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney in Santa Ana threw out Samueli’s plea deal saying he didn’t lie to investigators and citing alleged prosecutor misconduct.
The judge also dismissed the SEC suit, which had sought to bar Samueli from serving as a public company executive.
Criminal charges related to options backdating against two former executives also were dismissed.
Samueli is considered an engineering icon at Broadcom, which makes communications chips for cell phones, computers and consumer electronics.
Since May 2008, Samueli served as a full-time Broadcom technology adviser in a non-executive post.
He made a handful of public appearances on behalf of Broadcom, with no role in financial or corporate affairs.
Those familiar with the company said Samueli’s engineering role was little changed.
In early 2007, Broadcom restated several years of financial results to reflect $2.2 billion in charges for misdated stock options.
The restatement bill was the largest of any company involved in a stock options issue.
